ANY suspicion the Everton revival is built on false foundations evaporated at Goodison Park on Saturday.

ANY suspicion the Everton revival is built on false foundations evaporated at Goodison Park on Saturday. There you could listen to, as well as witness, the transformation now taking place.

Out on the pitch it was one-nil to the not so boring, boring Everton for a fifth game on the trot. No surprises there then.

Around the ground, however, the mood of the new dawn was clearly impacting on supporters whose relegation rust has eroded since David Moyes took charge eight short months. but another era, ago.

There are no prizes for guessing the reaction from a sell-out crowd when the giant Goodison TV screens flashed the news Liverpool were trailing at Fulham during the half-time interval. It was exactly what it would have been had Everton headed into the Premiership's bottom, rather than top, three.

For real signs of change we had to wait for the second half. During a spell of Everton wastefulness at one end and resilience at the other, the scoreboards announced how Arsenal's early lead was being eaten away at on the south coast.

Not so long ago the Gunners' failure to open up a four-point gap on Liverpool would have met with groans from Goodison. Not now, their glee was just as palpable.

Ever since Arsene Wenger's unbeaten record crumbled at the golden boot of Wayne Rooney, who just six weeks' ago was a precocious 16-year-old but who now is so wizened he stands still with his foot on the ball just to waste time - a la Alan Ball in his prime, Everton have started looking upwards. And upwards and upwards and...

Now Goodison believes any slip-up, whether it's by Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea, is a genuine cause for celebration because they are all gifts from THEIR Premiership rivals.

For such heavyweight company to be sustained Everton will have to produce much better, clinical displays than the one that saw off West Brom and recorded the club's sixth successive league victory on Saturday.

But after so long in the doldrums it is churlish to puncture the moment. The fact Everton can hold such dreams and aspirations once again is good enough for now.

For another reason to believe their resurgence can last, look and listen to the one person maintaining a sense of realism throughout the jubilation, David Moyes.

Heading for his first Premiership manager of the month award he might be - after just one third of his inaugural season at this level - but there is no chance the Scot will get carried away now.

"I've not thought too much about our position," he said. "More about each performance and each result.

"We are still trying to be in the top half of the Premiership and keeping out of trouble at the bottom. I'm very wary about saying too much because we could still find ourselves at the wrong end of the table. It's happened before.

"We've got a tough December and Christmas period coming up and where we come out after that will give us a clearer insight into where we will end up at the end of the year.

"Now we are having to deal with a different sort of pressure. There's a pressure that comes from winning. You hear the top managers over the years always putting pressure on one another and it's whether you can handle it.

"That's what you have to do - keep the ball and try and grab a second goal if you can. Previously at this place it was the pressure of being around the bottom. Now it's the pressure of knowing you have to keep winning to stay where you are, now you see who can handle it."

The 'sold-out' signs are going up but one consequence of expectation is that it replaces patience as a virtue as the first half hour of Saturday's encounter proved.

Unrecognisable Everton may be but they are not in a position to swat away opponents with ease, as the obvious frustration at mis-placed passes and the lack of chances that fell in an awkward opening spell showed. As all the wealthy elite of the Premiership prove, that doesn't happen anymore.

Against a dogged, resolute but ultimately predictable West Brom side the Blues were never at their best but proved they are a hard to beat team that will always create clear-cut chances.

Taking them is a problem - the only reason why all their successes of late have been by the only goal - but with Tomasz Radzinski (left) encapsulating the Goodison transformation they have a predatory striker earning every standing ovation he gets when he inevitably makes way for Rooney.

Credit for Saturday's matchwinner, an almost carbon-copy of the Charlton clincher, should be shared with Li Tie though. Exhausted at Blackburn, he was everywhere against the Baggies and pierced their defence with an immaculate pass in the 35th minute.

Radzinski raced through and seized the invitation to smack the ball beyond the impressive Russell Hoult at his near post, after the keeper had earlier snatched his 25-yard screamer, and even then the result appeared secure.

West Brom striker Jason Roberts should have levelled matters when, suspiciously offside, he raced clear on goal seven minutes after the restart only to stab the ball horribly wide.

Tony Hibbert also came to the rescue when he threw himself at Neil Clement's 81st-minute drive but otherwise Richard Wright didn't have a serious save to make all day. Which is just as well as he needed pain-killing injections before the game after injuring his back in the pre-match warm-up.

"That typifies the spirit we have here," added Moyes. "Richard didn't want to drop out despite his injury. He took a couple of pain killers and went on and played. If he had have been injured we wouldn't have made a fuss, but just got on with it. That's the way we are. The people who are out of the team know what they'll have to do."

Again no-nonsense. And Everton should have no fuss about their latest victory long before the annoying Jeff Winter eventually did.

Alan Stubbs had a goal-bound header stopped on the West Brom line in the first half by Kevin Campbell, who ought to have wrapped things up when Thomas Gravesen teed him up perfectly following a blistering run into the box on the hour. But with the goal at his mercy the striker stumbled over the ball.

Sean Gregan nearly presented his former Preston boss with a gift of an own goal while Radzinski and Li Tie both failed to capitalise on late breakaways as the Baggies rallied to no avail.

All that was left was for the Goodison TV screen to confirm matters elsewhere. Thankfully it didn't display the league table. If it had done, 40,000 Evertonians would still be staring wide-eyed at it today.